Toothbrush
by WindStar
Summary: Based off the quote from the deleted scene, when Jack first arrived at the Mercer house he trusted no one. He wouldn't even let someone take his toothbrush. Now Evelyn must teache him what it means to be adopted, and have a last name.


**Toothbrush : **

Jack opened the door to his room and closed it quickly after stepping inside. He walked to his small chest of drawers and opened the bottom one. Shaking silently, he opened his palm to reveal a small plastic object. Sighing he placed it inside the drawer, and closed it carefully. It was a ritual that was rehearsed each day with care. The boy understood that everything wasn't going to last forever, and with that in mind, he wanted to have everything he owned in a small and easy to pack environment. It was a sure thing that one of these days his home and life here at the Mrecer residence would come to an end.

He pulled his weak body up onto his bed and allowed himself the small intolerable comfort of falling asleep, and into his nightmared dreams he fell. The dreams in his mind were haunted with screams of agony and torment. The constant drug and mental, and even physical abuse had taken it's toll on him. The small child of only 10 years of age could only allow himself the opportunity to speak when his fragile body and mind came to it's breaking point. Dear Jack, how is it that he had acquired such a use to this particular behavior? Even his dear foster brothers, Bobby, Angel, and Jerry were surprised to his behavior – and they were told they had the worst history each.

Even so, Dear little Jack lay on his bed tossing and turning for hours, not knowing what he did wrong, or how these events came to pass. When he awoke from his troubled sleep, he rushed to his drawers and found the small item placed their earlier. Clutching it to his chest, he walked to the bathroom and made use of the desired equipment. He could only stare in the mirror at his small form as he proceeded with the task that he set out for himself. When his youngest-elder brother entered the room, he quickly shuffled away without a word or a glance. He could not allow himself to be in the way.

The youngest of the three older brothers watched after his only younger brother as he exited the room. The dark skinned male shook his head, and closed the door behind the boy. It was pointless, in his opinion, to pressure the child into talking. You do not force a bird to fly, it'll fly when it bloody well pleases, thank you very much – and that was his final opinion on the matter. Now, the eldest brother of the four might want to execute his 'finesse' on the topic, but that was out of anyone's control. As smart as Bobby was, he just did not like to think.

It was then that Bobby came across young Jack, as the boy was closing his bottom drawer. He placed his hand on the child's shoulder who froze instantaneously, as if knowing that something dreadful was about to happen. Bobby released the shoulder as if it burned him in the fiery pits of hell, or froze him in the deepest ice cavern of the atlantics. He motioned at the boy to the door, and Jack stood quietly.

"Breakfast kid, hungry?" The boy didn't know how to respond. This obviously had a meaning that was not as simple as it sounded. With more thought into the three simple words, he questioned each one. Breakfast was in the olden days considered "break of fast" the fast being the night in which you did not eat anything. Breaking of fast could also mean, the end of a time in which you did not do a specific function or carry out a specified deed. Kid could be considered in the child of the animal the goat, or in the more robust way – the child of a human. Hungry could be taken several different terms, the country, the lack of food in your body, or the lack of a specified deed in which you long for. "I hunger for you" would be a term in which a boy would tell his girlfriend, and would be interpreted as "I want/need you" or "I miss you". Delving further into Break of Fast, the only thing he had been denied, or had been 'fasting' recently was his lack of abuse, as there were no goats, surely it meant the human child, and finally, he was missing something. Therefore, Jack analyzed the situation after breaking each word down, and came up with one thing which _must _be what Bobby was talking about. "You haven't been hit in a while kid. Miss it?"

The only logical thing to answer in this particular question, was No. However, would that indeed make this person angry at him? Unsure of what course of action to take, the boy shrugged. It was neither a yes or a no, an could be perceived whichever way the perceiver wished to perceive it in.

"Come on, I'll show you the way." Breaking down each word, the boy was very startled and confused, and knew for sure he was going to be led to someplace awful in which he would be forced into doing vile things with this boy whom he hardly knew. With a final glance at his sock drawer, he proceeded after his new brother.

It shocked the boy to find that he had been led to a table covered in various cereals and fruits. It was strange, the boy didn't understand him. He calculated the reasoning behind this madness, and could only find the form of torture of watching someone eat while you are denied the meal yourself. However, when his foster mother asked him what he wanted, he was sure that this was the course of action that would take place. Unfortunately, when the meal was sat in front of him, he was so confused at what to do, he just stared at it until everyone was getting aggravated. The rule of the Mercer home was "never leave the table if someone is still eating" therefore, the three other boys were getting restless, and Evelyn was unsure on how to proceed. Carefully, she asked the boy if he was hungry, and he immediately shook his head. The food was then taken away from him, and everyone was allowed to leave. Jack was certain, that this was exactly what was meant to happen, and for the rest of the day until Lunch, was indeed hungry – in the sense of lack of food.

As the days and weeks proceeded, nothing much changed, which was unfortunate, for Jack was losing weight more then gaining. Finally, Evelyn bore witness to his toothbrush ritual, and sat him down one night in her room. In her hands there were papers that would have made no sense to an average 10 year old, however this one seemed to understand what was happening.

The vow of silence was broken, and the boy looked at Evelyn with sad eyes. His long dark blonde hair was shadowing his face, and he understood perfectly well. The papers that he had seem so many times before, he was seeing again. He would not stay. He knew it.

"You're giving me up." Jack said quietly. Evelyn found herself smiling, he had such a cute voice. Squeaky, but calm at the same time.

"No." She said smiling. "I'm keeping you." The boy's eyes looked at her for a long while, before they returned to the papers.

"That paper…"

"Adoption papers!" Evelyn said with a laugh. "You'll be with us forever Jackie. You're part of our family if you want us." Jack just stared at her. This was a joke, right? No one understood him, he could not have any love in his life…it was against tradition. It was against what he had learned since he was born. This wasn't right. This was a trick. A trick!

"You're lying." He never said anything so bold, but this was to far. He had tried to convince himself that she was a decent person, but now he saw through it all. She would lie to him about this. This was down right cruel!

"No. Jackie, you're going to have a last name!" Jackie stared at her. He didn't understand.

"I have a name…"

"No! A _last _name. It's the name that comes after your first name to show which family you come from." He stared. "Your Service officer said that you liked ancient history correct?"

"Yeah…"

"Think of it like this. We're the Mercer clan. Everyone in our home has the last name of Mercer. Bobby Mercer, Jerry Mercer, Angel Mercer, Evelyn Mercer. To be a member of this clan, you have to be apart of the family. You have to be adopted or be a blood child. You've been adopted Jackie. You have a clan – a family now. You're Jack Mercer now." The world spun around the boy's eyes. This wasn't happening. This was a joke. This was a lie. This was a false hood!

"You…mean it?" Nonono! This is wrong. The mind of Jack Mercer was spinning out of control, every word spoken had to be analyzed and thought out. This was all wrong. There was something wrong here!

"Yes. You're my baby boy now. There's no reason to hide your toothbrush anymore." And for once, Jack Mercer believed her.

**End**

**Windstar: this is not a profit work. The plot line is mine, however everything else is not. **

**I apologize to the readers of my other fics. My computer went up in flames and I lost every chapter to the fics. It's taking me sometime to re write them all, Please forgive me.**


End file.
